oposed confederation was that
of the United States, but with this difference, that whereas in the
United States all powers not expressly given by the constitution to the
federal government are held to belong to the several states, in the
Canadian constitution all powers not expressly reserved to the several
provinces were held to belong to the federal parliament. Thus in the
United States the residuum of power is in the several states, while in
Canada it is in the federal union and in the parliament of the Dominion.
No doubt the recent example of the civil war in the United States, which
was the result of an extreme assertion of state rights, was largely
responsible for this feature of the Canadian constitution. It is clear,
however, that it is a feature that is to be commended, because its
tendency is to cause Canadians to regard themselves rather as Canadians
than as belonging to any particular province, while in the United States
the feeling of statehood is still very strong. There are, of course,
many other contrasts between the Canadian confederation and the federal
union of the United States, arising from radical differences in the
system of government. Nothing like responsible government, as understood
in the British empire, exists in the United States, while this essential
feature had to be preserved in the Canadian constitution, not only with
reference to the Dominion parliament, but also in the legislatures of
the several provinces.

{DIFFICULT QUESTIONS}

In all the proceedings at Quebec, Mr. Tilley, as the finance minister of
New Brunswick, took a very prominent part. One great difficulty which
arose was with respect to the amount of money to be given by the federal
government to the several provinces for legislative purposes, in lieu of
the revenue which they had been accustomed to obtain from customs duties
and otherwise. The whole customs establishment was to be transferred to
the central government, and as most of the provinces would have no other
means of obtaining a revenue except by direct taxation, this feature of
the matter became of very vital importance. The difficulty was increased
by the fact that by the municipal system prevailing in Upper Canada the
local needs of the municipalities, in the way of roads, bridges, schools
and other matters, were provided for by local taxation, whereas in the
Maritime Provinces the provincial government had been accustomed to bear
these burdens. It was therefor